Growth spurs new schools, expansions in Klein ISD

Planned as part of the 2008 bond package, the district's fifth high school was estimated to cost about $131 million. However, Rimato said the project was delayed and the money was spent on other projects, including campus renovations, buses and an elementary school at FM 2920 and Mahaffey Road. About $64.1 million remains for the high school's construction.

She said the district constructs new schools once nearby schools reach a "tipping point" of about 120 percent of capacity, when the student population begins putting a strain on public spaces.

"You can build the school with the bond money, but if you don't have the maintenance and operation funds to support the teachers and the supplies and all the other employees that it takes to run a school, then you can't operate it," she said.

Klein High School

Perhaps the most significant piece of the 2008 bond package was the reconstruction of Klein High School, the district's oldest high school. Robert Robertson, associate superintendent of facilities, said the $123.3 million rebuild is nearly completed, with the final three buildings of the original school set to be demolished this summer.

"The Klein High School Bearkats are tremendously excited about the completion of the new building and look forward to moving into the new spaces this summer," KHS Principal Larry Whitehead said. "The new academic wing and athletic facilities allow our students to enjoy modernized classrooms, laboratories, library, gymnasiums and career technology spaces that better meet the needs of today's learners."

The high school will be a completely new campus, Robertson said, and will use none of the old buildings that have been added since the first building opened in 1963.

"With any school facility, when they start to hit that 40-50-year point, you really have to ask yourself if the facility itself is meeting the needs of the instruction program," he said.

Robertson said none of the campus buildings were attached, which made campus management difficult and created safety concerns. He said some instructional spaces were not up to standard, and the campus had storm water runoff issues.

Although the campus nearly doubled in size—from less than 400,000 square feet to just under 700,000 square feet—Robertson said the campus' capacity will only increase from 3,000 students to about 3,500, because of the increase in the size of classroom and science lab standards.

The bulk of the project will be completed in August, but some additional site work is planned for completion around November.

2015 bond

Klein ISD has successfully passed nine bond elections since 1971.

Although Robertson said the amount of a possible 2015 bond referendum is unknown, the district knows it will need at least one elementary school, one intermediate school and partial funding for the fifth high school. He said the district anticipates the referendum to be less than 2008's bond package, although the property tax rate will increase.

"Once we get the facility assessment with the educational adequacy and the repair renovation numbers from that, we'll know just how big that number is," he said.

Robertson said all the new schools will be built toward the north of the district, including high school No. 5, which could break ground as early as January 2015.

"The excitement's not in the buildings," he said. "It's in the quality of the students that we're turning out. The excitement for me is being able to support the instructional program with quality facilities that makes all that great stuff that happens in the classroom possible."